


Overflow

by energie_vie



Series: Magnetic [12]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, POV Nile Freeman, Pining, Post-Movie: The Old Guard (2020), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28025067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/energie_vie/pseuds/energie_vie
Summary: "The next time she has him all to herself, she'll figure out the best way to talk to him aboutthem. If all else fails, meaning if she can't find her words, she'll just jump him and that should do the trick. She's feeling giddy all of a sudden, as if her jumbled thoughts are finally arranging themselves in some semblance of order."OR: Nile reaching the end of her patience.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Series: Magnetic [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987831
Comments: 10
Kudos: 82





	Overflow

**Author's Note:**

> Magnetic was always supposed to come to an end and it's only due to the wonderful feedback that this end has come later rather than sooner.
> 
> This is the last story in the series and let me just say that for the first time ever the title came before I even wrote the first line (by the way, once again it's not inspired by a song, yaay me!).
> 
> I _will_ stay in the same universe, though, with the [Gooey](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983568) series (which acts as sequel for this one) and the multi-chapter ficlet thingy called [Snapshots](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27817846/chapters/68103208), because I just love these two so much!
> 
> Enjoy :)
> 
> EDIT: cover art at the end of the story by the wonderful StarWatcher.

It's been almost two weeks. Well, thirteen days, to be more precise, but who's counting. It's also been a long time since they've had to split up three-ways _and_ in different parts of the world. Joe and Booker are in Colombia, Quynh and Nicky are in South Africa and her and Andy are in Thailand, each dealing with their own missions and struggling to keep track of the others' timezones.

With so many problems in the world splitting up is sometimes the best option but it's also completely unpleasant, especially when it lasts for more than a couple of days. _And_ especially when she gets separated from him, Nile sighs, looking out the taxi window. It's raining and the traffic is horribly slow as they make their way to the airport, so she lets her mind wander, preparing for the inevitable moment when all her thoughts start swirling around him.

It happens a lot sooner than she'd expected, when the car stops moving altogether, reminding her of another time when they were stuck in traffic, Booker ranting about her lack of research and her struggling not to laugh at his pouty face. God, she misses him so much! Only two days left, but they feel like two centuries. She snorts quietly at her own cheesy thought, though by now she's gotten used to getting sappy whenever she thinks about him.

Andy is dozing off next to her, so she pulls out her phone from her jacket and sends him a quick text.

_'When I was in middle school I had a History teacher who explained to us one day what time relativity means. She said that if we had just one hour to play our favourite video game, it would pass in a blur but if we had to **wait** for an hour before being allowed to play, it would feel like an eternity. Just a random thought.'_

She's not expecting a reply until way later because the difference is of twelve fucking hours, so she jumps when her phone buzzes in her pocket.

_'Nice analogy. Did she also explain space relativity?'_

_'Nope, just time. Why aren't you sleeping?'_

_'Too jittery. We have to get up in about two hours anyway, so at this point I'm not even bothering. I'll sleep on the plane.'_

_'That's what you always say and you always end up watching movies the entire flight.'_

_'I'll sleep in Vienna, then. Stop rolling your eyes.'_

Nile chuckles quietly. He knows her so well.

_'Have a safe flight!'_

_'You too, darling. I can't wait to see you!_

_'Me too, Seb.'_

\---

The safehouse in Vienna smells like home and it's definitely because Nicky is cooking something that literally makes her mouth water. It's a quaint little flat in a quiet neighbourhood and she absolutely loves it. She's already been here a couple of times, so after hugging Quynh and Nicky tightly, she goes to the bedroom that she'll be sharing with Booker and collapses face first on the bed.

For the past four hours she's been on autopilot because long flights are a fucking drag. Between the difference in time zone and the countless hours spent in airports because they didn't have a direct flight, she literally doesn't remember what day it is anymore or when Joe and Booker are supposed to arrive.

'Dinner's ready,' Nicky's soft voice comes from the doorway.

Nile just grunts noncommittally, not even bothering to move.

'What day is it?' she asks, voice muffled by the pillow and Nicky chuckles.

'Thursday.'

'That doesn't really help, you know.'

'Well, what _would_ help then?'

'Not having so many time zones?'

Nicky laughs heartily and Nile sits up, pouting and crossing her arms.

'Hey, you and Quynh are the luckiest. The rest of us have to fight jet lag.'

'It'll be gone by tomorrow,' Nicky winks. 'Now come on, I made _ragù_ ,' he says, laughing once again when she scrambles to get off the bed and all but sprints to the kitchen.

\---

Joe and Booker don't have a direct flight either. They're also delayed in New York by a massive storm, so it's late in the afternoon when they finally land in Vienna. 

_'I fucking hate planes and airports and people and the fucking weather!'_

Nile giggles when she reads his text, picturing him with a scowl on his face. She hasn't even started typing a reply when her phone buzzes again.

_'Also, Joe's been completely insufferable and I'm **this** close to strangling him!'_

_'What did he do?'_

_'Sulked ever since the delay was announced and then huffed and puffed like the little engine that could for the entire flight. I swear I could hear him even with my headphones on!_ '

This time she laughs out loud, drawing Andy and Quynh's attention. Nicky is on the phone and judging by his soft voice and the mix of Arabic and Genoese, he's talking to Joe.

'They're close to murdering each other, aren't they?' Andy chuckles while playing with Quynh's hair.

'I don't know about Joe but Seb seems to be close to his breaking point,' she shrugs, feeling the butterflies in her stomach do their usual somersaults as soon as his name leaves her lips.

'Yeah, Joe gets unbearable whenever he and Nicky are separated for too long.'

'It's not like Booker's any better,' Quynh adds casually, making Andy chuckle once again.

'What do you mean?' Nile asks confusedly.

'She means he's been fidgety ever since they left Medellín and he's been cursing global warming and pollution and, at a certain point, even god for the storm in New York,' Nicky interjects. 'They're in a taxi, they should arrive in twenty minutes tops.'

Nile giggles and returns to Booker's last message that she still hasn't replied to. She ponders for a few seconds, then decides that teasing him should be fun enough.

_'I don't think God is meteorologically inclined.'_

_'Fucking snitch! Of course he whined to Nicky the first chance he got.'_

_'It's ok, sweetie, **you** can whine to **me** as much as you want.'_

_'Damn right I will!'_

Fifteen minutes later, there's a commotion in the hallway and both Nicky and Nile jump from the couch as if burnt, shoving each other to get there first and both clearly ignoring Andy and Quynh's laughter.

Booker barely manages to take off his backpack before Nile all but throws herself at him, the weight of the impact pushing him against the front door. His jacket is open, so she snakes her hands under it and encircles his waist, squeezing as tightly as she can. Booker's arms envelop her and bring her impossibly close, so she presses her face to his neck and inhales deeply. He smells like spring and the supreme cheesiness of _this_ thought makes her giggle under her breath.

She doesn't know how long they stay glued to each other. All she knows is that whenever she tries to pull back, Booker makes a small sound of protest, tightening his hold on her, so after a few failed attempts, she gives up and just closes her eyes in delightful bliss.

'Are you two planning to stay there all night?' Joe's voice snaps Nile out of her reverie.

'What's it to you?' Booker grumbles.

'I'm hungry and Nicky insists on not feeding me until everyone's sat at the table,' he whines.

Booker huffs and reluctantly lets Nile go, taking off his jacket and shoes and heading for the bathroom.

'I'll be there in two minutes,' he calls over his shoulder.

\---

The first thing she notices when she opens her eyes is that it's a beautiful, sunny day. The second thing she notices is that she can't move an inch because Booker seems to have turned into an octopus overnight and all his limbs are entangled with hers. She can feel his breath on her nape and now that she's awake, she can also hear his soft snores, which makes her grin stupidly.

She hasn't slept this well since at least two weeks ago and it's all thanks to him. They had gone to bed rather early but they had spent at least an hour whispering in the dark, exchanging stories from their missions. Nile had also let him whine, as promised, laughing heartily at his uncanny impression of a pissed off Joe. They had fallen asleep facing each other and it had been so cozy and intimate that she had thought nothing could beat the feeling.

Except, apparently, waking up in his arms. She's so close to him that it's making all her nerve endings buzz pleasantly and her heart overflow with warmth and fuzziness. She shifts a bit because her left hand has almost gone numb, only to hear Booker grunt in his sleep and press himself closer to her. This is what pure euphoria must feel like and Nile closes her eyes and sighs contentedly, wishing all mornings could be like this.

And then she immediately snaps them open, the epiphany hitting her like a ton of bricks. All mornings _can_ be like this. There's no reason not to and it's so painfully obvious that she would literally facepalm, if only she could extract her right arm from under Booker's. Nile stares blankly out the window, wondering why on earth they're being so stupid and deliberately missing out on so many things.

Right, because they have a tacit agreement made a long time ago that states that there's no need to rush things and they should just enjoy the ride because it's utterly exhilarating. Yeah, all that still stands, but she's lost her fucking patience. Time for an upgrade.

\---

She should have known that it's a lot easier said than done. Nile thinks that she must have done something terribly wrong at a certain point in her life because karma keeps screwing with her and everything that should be simple is in fact complicated and the other way around. After all, it should be a piece of cake to sit him down, lay all the cards on the table and move to the proverbial next level.

Instead, she spends the better part of the next three days second-guessing herself. What if they're not on the same page yet? What if there are more bridges to build that she hasn't even thought about? What if Booker just doesn't feel the same way? This last thought feels like a punch in the gut and as much as she tries to banish it because it simply _can't_ be true, it keeps coming back with an enviable stubbornness. It's a whirlwind of _what ifs_ that threatens to consume her and renders her completely unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time.

'Dearest, are you even listening to me?' Booker asks in amusement but there's an undertone of concern in his voice, which tells her that she must have seriously zoned out this time.

'Yes?' Nile replies hesitantly and it definitely sounds more like a question than an answer.

'There's something on your mind.'

'What makes you say that?' she asks innocently, though deflection will only get her so far.

'You've been acting strange for the past couple of days. Ever since I got here, come to think of it,' he adds as an afterthought, cocking his head to the left.

It's such a familiar gesture, she could probably draw it from memory. In fact, she should try this later, she hasn't drawn too much lately and maybe Joe can lend her an empty sketchbook because it's quite dreary outside and she doesn't really feel like going out. Unless she can convince Booker to join her, so maybe-

'There it is,' he says seriously. 'You've gone somewhere in your head again. Is everything ok?'

She contemplates lying but gives up almost immediately because he knows her too damn well and he'd see right through her, so she opens her mouth, ready to spill everything… and she chickens out at the very last second.

'I'm getting tired, Seb. Aren't you?'

'I'm not sure I understand,' he says slowly and of course he doesn't because she's talking in fucking riddles. 'Do you need a break?' he carries on in a gentle tone.

Nile drags a hand over face and then promptly starts chuckling. She's tired and frustrated and right now she's wondering when exactly she had started copying his gestures. Booker looks at her as if she were a bit unhinged and maybe she is, because she gives him another riddle to work with.

'The last thing I need is a break,' she says simply. 'I'm ok, Seb, really.'

She's such a liar!

\---

Their planned two weeks of downtime are getting to an end and Nile has spent them alternating between being completely exasperated by her own reluctance and resigning herself to letting things follow their natural course. It doesn't really help that she wakes up every morning to the glorious sight that is Booker's sleepy face, complete with messy hair and half-closed eyes. One morning he had woken up before her and the empty bed had done something very weird to her brain. She had been extra distracted the entire day.

Right now they're all sitting at the table after having finished breakfast. Joe and Quynh are intensely debating something but as per usual, she had zoned out a bit and missed the beginning, so she doesn't really know what the topic of discussion is. The others sometimes jump in the conversation, but Nile has noticed Booker keeps stealing glances at her. At one point, he finally manages to catch her eyes and he holds her gaze, silently asking if she's alright. She sighs and nods almost imperceptibly, smiling just a little when he cocks his head to the left.

'I see you've upgraded your means of communication to silent conversations only,' Andy mutters all of a sudden, interrupting Joe, Nicky and Quynh's debate. 'You ok, kid?' she asks seriously.

'Yeah. Just tired, didn't sleep very well last night.'

It's a blatant lie that makes Booker narrow his eyes at her. Thankfully, no one is paying any attention to him because they're all turned towards her.

'Didn't sleep very well or didn't sleep at all?' Joe teases, wiggling his eyebrows and making everyone else laugh.

'I'll let _you_ decide that,' she winks and then grins at Booker who's chuckling under his breath.

Joe shakes his head and laughs quietly. 'You two are the most annoying people I've ever had the misfortune of meeting,' he says good-naturedly.

'Thank you, we really try to keep a high standard at all times,' she deadpans.

Joe looks like he wants to add something else but that's exactly when Andy's phone buzzes loudly.

'It's Copley. Be right back,' she says, getting up from the table and heading for the living room.

Nile offers to clear the table and do the dishes, so the rest of the guys file out of the kitchen except for Booker. It doesn't really surprise her that he stays behind, presumably to try and find out what's really going on with her. What does surprise her, however, is the silence. He stays quiet while gathering all the plates and glasses and when she starts washing them, he just sits back down and folds his hands on the table.

Nile can feel his eyes boring holes in the back of her head and the fact that he isn't calling her out on having lied earlier is completely unnerving.

'Where do you wanna go?' he asks out of the blue a couple of minutes later and Nile turns to look at him inquisitively.

'Sorry?'

'On holiday. The next one. Where do you wanna go?'

He's giving her a way out and she loves him just a bit more for it. They're different like that. Nile doesn't hesitate to corner him whenever there's something on his mind and sometimes she presses until he gives in but that's also because he has an unhealthy tendency of bottling stuff up. Booker, on the other hand, is the best at giving her as much space as she needs, just like he's been doing for the past two weeks.

'Somewhere warm,' she replies. 'By the sea, preferably.'

'I like the sound of that,' he grins.

'Just the two of us,' she adds.

'Obviously,' he snorts and Nile makes up her mind on the spot.

The next time she has him all to herself, she'll figure out the best way to talk to him about _them_. If all else fails, meaning if she can't find her words, she'll just jump him and that should do the trick. She's feeling giddy all of a sudden, as if her jumbled thoughts are finally arranging themselves in some semblance of order.

'Guys, new mission coming up in less than a week,' Andy says in her business-like tone, taking a seat at the table.

Joe, Quynh and Nicky follow suit, so Nile turns around and leans on the counter.

'Organ trafficking,' Andy carries on. 'Some upscale private clinic, specialised in plastic surgery. Copley will send us more details today but it's quite delicate since some of the stockholders are Yakuza, so we need to be very careful. To begin with, standard recon and then we'll see how we proceed.'

'So we're going to Japan,' Nile says.

'Tokyo, to be more exact. And I want you and Book to do the recon, so you'd better start packing because I need you guys on a plane as soon as possible.'

'Got it, boss,' Booker says, getting up from the table. 'I'll handle the flight and the hotel, darling, could you please pack for both of us?'

'Aaaw, isn't that sweet!' Joe exclaims, one hand over his heart while the rest of the idiots snicker.

Nile tunes them all out because right now, the mission is the last thing on her mind. Right now the only thing she can think about is that she's gonna be alone with Booker a lot sooner than anticipated. Oh well, she takes a deep breath and steels herself, Tokyo it is.

\---

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on [Tumblr](https://energievie.tumblr.com/) in case you wanna say hi 😁💜


End file.
